Association between emotional intelligence and stuttering in school-age children in Kosovo

Abstract

Several studies have shown that emotional intelligence can impact stuttering in children and that these children begin to exhibit impaired emotional and social behaviour from the age of 3 years onwards. These difficulties have also been observed in adults who stutter. The purpose of this research study was to examine the association between emotional intelligence factors and stuttering in school-age children in Kosovo. The outcome of this study will provide a baseline to compare factors related to the emotional intelligence of children who stutter and those who do not. This descriptive cross-sectional study included a sample of 62 participants stratified into the two groups: a group of children who stutter (N = 31) and a control group of children who do not stutter (N = 31). Participants ranged in age from 8-15 years. The instrument used for data collection was a self-report emotional intelligence questionnaire for children: The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire - Child Short Form (TEIQue-CSF) (Mavroveli & Petrides, 2009). We collected and analysed data on the level of emotional intelligence of children who stutter and those who do not. Our findings show that adaptability as a construct of emotional intelligence is observed at a lower level in children who stutter (M = 21.5) than those who do not (M = 40.9). In addition, we observed lower adaptability in male students (M = 27.9) than females (M = 35.2) in both groups of participants. Furthermore, children who stutter showed lower levels of emotional expression (M = 23.4 vs 39.7) and emotional perception (M = 22.3 vs 42.8) than those who do not stutter. Based on our analysis, we concluded that school-age children who stutter have significantly lower levels of emotional intelligence than their peers who do not stutter.